If you've been following my blog for a while, you may have noticed that although my prime reading/writing genre for a long time was fantasy, lately I've been reading and writing more cozy mysteries than anything else. A lot of it has to do with the "cozy" part. In these unsettling times, the main emotion I want to experience in my reading is comfort; warm things like books, tea, food, and crafts; and a sense of community. However, I've been drawn to comfort/cozy books for a long time. One of my first favorite fantasy series was Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series. For a fantasy world, Haven felt like a very comfortable place, with creature comforts like heated baths being readily available. Some of M.C.A Hogarth's Pelted Alliance books also feature comfortable settings, but some of them go to surprisingly dark places. Then there's hopepunk like Susan Kaye Quinn's When You Had Power. I recently read Becky Chamber's A Psalm for the Wild-Built and found it as comforting as a cup of tea. Both of these books are science fiction. It seems like this trend may transcend genres, though there are many genres incompatible with coziness.
Do you like cozy settings, or do you prefer other genres? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
2 comments:
Never thought of it that way, but I guess I like a bit more adventure and roughness in my reading.
That's interesting that you'd be drawn to write cozy stories. A few months ago, I mentioned to somebody that I didn't know how to write when the world was such a mess. They said, "How can you NOT write?" (I don't really know the answer. I just know my muse wasn't having it.) But now that you mention it, a cozy mystery is a good solution! :-)
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